1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a switchgear cabinet with a climate-control arrangement, which is installed in the switchgear cabinet interior, and is in spatial connection with the switchgear cabinet interior through an air guidance conduit, and the switchgear cabinet interior is enclosed by lateral walls and at least one cabinet door.
2. Description of Related Art
Such a switchgear cabinet is known from the company prospectus xe2x80x9cRittal Handbuch 29xe2x80x9d [Rittal Manual 29], page 520. With such switchgear cabinets the climate-control arrangement is designed as a cooling apparatus, which can be mounted at any arbitrary level in the switchgear cabinet interior. The climate-control arrangement aspirates heated air from the switchgear cabinet interior and conducts it to an evaporator of a cooling circuit. There, the temperature level of the air is lowered. Thereafter, the climatized air can again be released into the switchgear cabinet interior by a fan.
It is one object of this invention to produce a switchgear cabinet of the type previously mentioned, with which an effective climate-control of the air in the switchgear cabinet interior is possible.
This object is attained with an intermediate wall spaced apart from the lateral wall to create an air collection conduit between the lateral wall and the intermediate wall, which is in spatial connection with the air guidance conduit of the climate-control arrangement via inlet openings, and with the switchgear cabinet interior via one or several openings.
The air from the switchgear cabinet interior which, for example, is considerably heated, can be pre-climatized in the air collection circuit, wherein heat is exchanged with the surroundings via the lateral wall. Thereafter the pre-climatized air can be conducted to the climate-control arrangement and further cooled there. An effective climate-control is possible with such an arrangement, wherein the lateral wall can be used as a heat exchanger. In particular, only a small cold output is required for the climate-control arrangement.
In one preferred embodiment of this invention the intermediate wall has several rows of openings, wherein the rows are arranged above each other in the vertical direction. The air guidance conduit of the climate-control arrangement is connected to the air collection conduit via at least one of the openings. The intermediate wall allows a flexible installation of the climate-control arrangement which can be selectively associated with one of the rows of openings. The connection of the air collection conduit with the switchgear cabinet interior can be provided via the other remaining openings.
For example, the air can be aspirated out of the switchgear cabinet interior from different levels. In this case the intermediate wall has at least three rows of openings, wherein one row is arranged in the upper ceiling area, one row in the lower floor area and a further row in the center area of the intermediate wall.
To be able to aspirate air from a defined area of the switchgear cabinet, or to release it there, one or several of the openings can be selectively closed by covers.
In another preferred embodiment the climate-control arrangement aspirates heated air from the air collection conduit with at least one fan and conducts it to a heat exchanger. The air climatized at the heat exchanger can be released through one or several outlets into the switchgear cabinet interior. If several outlets are employed, they are preferably but not necessarily selectively closable, so that the connection with the switchgear cabinet interior can only take place at predefined locations.
In accordance with this invention, an efficient climate-control arrangement is distinguished because it has a cooling device with an evaporator and a condenser, wherein the evaporator is arranged in the air guidance conduit, and the condenser is connected with the surroundings via an exterior circuit. The exterior air conducted in the exterior circuit can be released to the surroundings, or respectively aspirated from it, via openings in the cabinet door or in a lateral wall. So that even cooling of the switchgear cabinet interior is possible, intermediate walls are allocated to at least two lateral walls, and the climate-control arrangement is in spatial connection with the air collection conduits formed between the lateral walls and the intermediate walls.
In accordance with this invention, one or several fans can be fastened by screws at the openings of the intermediate wall for helping convey air.